The Positive Power of Talking Heads

Last week I wrote about the power of patients getting together and trading stories. As I wrote then, meeting in-person is simply unmatched. But now we have something almost as good – connecting on video to make a human connection: “Talking Heads for better Health,” if you will.

You probably have noticed that we have been shooting video like crazy. I am thrilled about it because I studied broadcast journalism (mostly TV) in college and went on to become an on-camera reporter and then a national TV producer. As I got in on the ground floor of the Internet, there was no place for video – no “bandwidth” – but that’s no obstacle anymore. That’s why we at Patient Power are producing fewer audio programs and more video ones. Now you can connect with the speaker in a new, more engaging way. For example, you can see 23-year-old Kayla Nation, from Estacada, Oregon tell the story of being diagnosed with leukemia during pregnancy. You can see the hope in her eyes as she explains how the medicine she is on seems to be working.

Last Saturday we produced a “town meeting” for people with multiple myeloma with our long-time sponsor, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. About 150 people came – a great turnout. But our two camera crews were there too and the resulting footage including comments from a panel of patients who are living well and two world-renowned experts will reach thousands of people worldwide. For this TV-generation-producer, I am delighted these more visual communications for patients can have even more impact.

The next step, of course, is more live patient-to-patient or medical-expert-to-patient programs and to have them available on your phone as well as on your computer. We are working on that.

“Talking Heads” can be used as a pejorative term for the seemingly all-knowing TV anchorpeople and political pundits. But it can also be used to talk about the animated faces of people in your health community, anywhere in the world, who want to inform and inspire. Health communications is evolving and we are proud to be part of it.

Wishing you the best of health,

Andrew